Truth and Consequences
Since Watergate, political pundits have opined that “the cover-up is worse than the crime.” Certainly that was the case in the trumped-up Clinton impeachment, where the thin legal pretext masking a mountain of pent-up right-wing hatred was the allegation that Clinton lied under oath to prevent the fanatically partisan special prosecutor from learning about his affair with Monica Lewinski. But now, in their ongoing efforts to undo the last century of political history in this country, Bush and crew are proving the opposite – the crime is worse.
The crime in question here is deceiving the people of the United States and the world into an unprovoked war of aggression against a sovereign state. Even as the Administration was making the case around the imminent threat of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, pretty much everyone knew it was a pretext at best, if not an outright pack of lies. And yet, Bush stuck with his story, even sending then-respected Secretary of State Collin Powel to the UN to solemnly present the “evidence.”
Now that the US has occupied Iraq for nearly 3 months and it is clear, strangely enough, that Saddam was telling the truth and Bush was lying, the efforts to cover up are completely half-hearted. One must applaud the candor of Deputy Defense Secretary and war mastermind Paul Wolfowitz, who has no bones about telling anyone who asks that the WMD issue was the product of bureaucratic consensus, not actual evidence. In their arrogance and righteous certainty, it doesn’t even occur to the Bushies that there was anything wrong with using fraud and deceit to justify starting a war and occupying a foreign country halfway around the world.
It’s interesting that the defense of the Administration even from normally-dependable ideological allies such as William Safire, Max Boot and William F. Buckley amounts to the assertion that “they wouldn’t be so stupid as to deliberately lie about something where they could so easily be found out.” This is the same as saying Clinton wouldn’t be stupid enough to jeopardize his presidency for a blowjob from an overweight intern with big hair. The hard truth that there is not a shred of evidence of WMDs in Iraq is starting to fit this Administration like a tight blue dress.
History has shown that in the long run, the American people don’t like being lied to. While it may be especially outrageous if the lie is about lying itself (e.g., a cover-up), lies that involve putting the lives of American troops and the reputation of America in the world at risk are not appreciated either. Just ask Lyndon Johnson about that.
1:36:17 PM 
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